Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Thanks to my gracious hosts at Woodside Capital Partners, I was able to catch tonight's "Dinner Party" session of TED. I was looking forward to Jonathan Haidt's presentation, and he did not disappoint. Here are my notes from the event:

Centuries ago, people burned cats alive for entertainment, kept slaves, and executed people for petty crimes

Why did this occur?

Our circle of empathy expanded (communications, transportation)

Thinkers used reason to change the perception of what was and wasn't acceptable

Contradictions bother us

Reasoned arguments can, over time, change how people feel

E.g. The Constitution's ban on "cruel and unusual punishments" stems from a pamphlet by Italian jurist Cesare Beccaria

Eventually, things just "feel wrong," and the reasoned arguments are forgotten

Even in cases where emotional appeals helped to change the world (c.f. "Uncle Tom's Cabin"), the intellectual underpinnings came from prior thinkers like John Locke

What are things that future ages will look back on as backwards and unthinkable?

The debate drifts. Today's gay marriage opponents would be considered leftist 40 years ago, because they accept that homosexuality is not a crime

Slavery is illegal everywhere, but was legal in Saudi Arabia up to 1962 (on the other hand, there are more slaves today than at any other time in history...though the proportion of people living in slavery is at an all time low)